The difference between economists and non-economists

Chris Dillow writes at his blog Stumbling and Mumbling

Many economists say "markets facilitate mutually beneficial trade, so we should have free(ish) ones in organs, drugs, prostitution etc." To which non-economists go "yuck, that's disgusting."

Yes economists see the world differently from non-economists, even when those non-economists are their mother. Economist Harold Winter writes,

In one of the chapters we discussed that day, the author argued that it may be sensible social policy to allow overworked emergency rooms [of hospitals] to refuse care to patients who couldn't pay or who didn't have insurance. As I told my mother about this, I went into "professor mode" and ranted on for about ten minutes, showing her my passion for economic reasoning. When I was finished, she had a scared look in her eyes and then simply said, "You're a monster!?